Contribution of Writing Autonomy to the Writing Performance of EFL Learners Based on CEFR

This study aimed to investigate (a) EFL learners' beliefs about writing autonomy and their autonomous writing practices and (b) the contribution of writing autonomy to writing performance in terms of level specific tasks. The participants of this study were 138 Iranian students at BA and MA levels in Alborz Institute of Higher Education. Three writing tasks at B1, B2, and C1 levels as well as the adapted version of the autonomy questionnaire developed by Chan, Spratt, and Humphreys (2002) were administered in this research. The results showed that the majority of both BA and MA students were found to be at B1 level, and only 17.3% of MA students were placed at C1 level. In addition, both BA and MA students held themselves more responsible for 'Making sure they make progress during writing lessons'. Concerning writing abilities, BA students reported to be more capable of 'Choosing writing objectives in writing class', while MA students were more able to 'Identify their weaknesses in English writing' and to 'Decide how long to spend on each activity'. Considering writing activities, in both BA and MA students' responses, 'Listening and taking notes about what they have been taught', was the most frequent activity, whereas 'Writing an informal review for a website' and 'Writing a personal blog' were the least frequent activities. The results of ordinal regression analysis also revealed that only writing activities and group (BA and MA) were related to the rated performance.